EnergySage and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA today announced that they have allied to help municipalities reach their renewable energy goals by advancing solar adoption in their communities. The organizations have rolled out the EnergySage online solar marketplace to ICLEI local government members, enabling them to quickly and cost-effectively develop their own localized solar energy programs. The marketplace equips cities with best practices and access to tools that will help make their solar program a success, while giving residents much-needed choice and price transparency when evaluating and shopping for solar systems.

"ICLEI has always been an incubator for sustainable community development. We are excited to partner with EnergySage to bring the online solar marketplace to the ICLEI Network,” said Angie Fyfe, ICLEI's director of Resource Efficiency & Renewable Energy Programs. “EnergySage affords consumers the convenience of online comparison shopping, while we provide expertise helping communities develop and manage solar programs. This is a perfect combination to accelerate solar deployment in communities across the country."

With a network of 1,000 local governments in 86 countries around the world and 42 states in the U.S., ICLEI empowers cities, towns and counties to make their own decisions about sustainability by providing unbiased resources such as EnergySage. Many of ICLEI’s member communities, such as Fort Collins, Colorado, Palo Alto, California, Burlington, Vermont and Austin, Texas, have aggressive renewable energy targets – the solar marketplace can boost their initiatives’ success at the best price.

Leveraging the EnergySage marketplace, ICLEI members can more easily and affordably educate local homeowners and show them exactly how a solar energy system can benefit them. They can provide residents the ability to research and compare solar systems, obtain multiple instant price quotes from pre-screened solar installers, and identify their best financing options (e.g. whether to buy, borrow or lease). Statistics show that, armed with this knowledge, EnergySage marketplace users adopt solar across the country at rates two to three times higher than industry averages.

“EnergySage made it easy for residents of Melrose to go solar – we couldn't have done it without them!” said Martha Grover, manager of Energy Efficiency for Melrose, Massachusetts. “We didn’t have the time or money to develop a Solarize campaign or the resources to promote it, and we didn’t want to limit homeowners to solar packages from a single installer. With the EnergySage marketplace, we were able to offer residents more choices, and enable local installers and financiers to participate in our program.”

Through EnergySage, city governments are also able to provide local installers access to a pool of knowledgeable prospective clients – consumers who have utilized the site to “get all the facts” about going solar. This has proven to help installers reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50 percent and efficiently grow their businesses, which stimulates the local economy.

“One of the biggest misconceptions, and therefore, hurdles to solar adoption, is that purchasing a solar energy system is going to be expensive and complicated. It’s our mission to help municipalities make the process transparent, easy and affordable for their residents,” said EnergySage CEO Vikram Aggarwal. “The EnergySage marketplace enables ICLEI members to quickly establish and promote solar energy programs that give residents the power of choice, ability to comparison shop for solar as they would anything else – and save money. Marketplace users across the country pay prices for their rooftop solar systems that are up to 20 percent less than market averages.”

About ICLEI

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is the leading global network of local governments dedicated to sustainability, resilience, and climate action, with more than 1,000 cities, towns, and counties around the globe. We connect leaders to share solutions and accelerate progress, and our cutting-edge tools and technical guidance help local governments reach their ambitious goals. For more information please visit: www.icleiusa.org

About EnergySage, Inc.

EnergySage provides the first comprehensive online marketplace for consumers and businesses interested in converting to solar energy. By enabling people to comparison shop for “apples-to-apples” competitive quotes from pre-screened installers and financiers, the EnergySage Marketplace typically delivers cost-savings of up to 20 percent when compared to going directly to installers. EnergySage also simplifies today’s complex solar industry by providing tools and unbiased information that enable people to fully understand their product and financing options as well as their return-on-investment scenarios. Many leading organizations have forged partnerships with EnergySage to promote the adoption of solar energy, including Connecticut Green Bank, Staples, Walgreens and the World Wildlife Fund. For more information, please visit: www.energysage.com.